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7.1 Exmoor National Park Authority 6/30/15/101 03 7.1 EXMOOR NATIONAL PARK AUTHORITY Application: 6/30/15/101 Grid Ref. SS97012846 Applicant: Arqiva Ltd, c/o agent (Arqiva), Location: Haddon Hill Car Park, Haddon Hill, Skilgate, Somerset Proposal: Proposed installation of a 30m shared communications mast, ground based apparatus and ancillary development within a fenced compound. As per additional information 01.10.15 (Full) Introduction The application site is located in the public car park at Haddon Hill, Skilgate, within the south-east corner of the National Park. The proposed site for the 30m lattice mast is in the south west corner of the car park. The Haddon Hill public car park has toilets, interpretation boards, a shelter and a grassy “picnic area” for visitors to the hill. Beech and birch trees are scattered across the grassy banks within the car park. The car park is relatively enclosed by scattered trees, but there are open views to the north towards Wimbleball reservoir. To the west of the car park is an area of former plantation which was largely clear felled in the early 2000’s in order to restore an area of heathland and provide south facing slopes for heath fritillary butterfly. A narrow belt of pine was left along the southern fringe of the hill and adjacent to the car park, in order to screen the car park, provide some shelter and protect the neighbour’s trees from wind-throw. To the south of the car park lies Frogwell Lodge and its associated holiday let. To the west of this house, within the garden, is a small wind turbine (approximately 13.6m). The property does not benefit from mains electricity. The house itself is approximately 150m from the proposed mast. The wider Haddon Hill is an area of 176 hectares of open moorland, partly owned by the National Park Authority (93ha). The moorland was purchased by Exmoor National Park Authority in 1980 in order to conserve and enhance the natural beauty and wildlife of the hill and to secure public access. The car park was purchased separately in 1987 (from South West Water). Haddon Hill is Open Access land and is very well used by the public. It is designated as Section 3 moorland and is also a Site of Special Scientific Interest and Special Area of Conservation. However, the car park, itself is outside the designated areas. The application proposes to erect a 30m telecommunications mast on a corner section of the car park with an incursion in to the adjoining bank to form the compound. Approximately 2-3 informal car parking spaces would be lost. The mast would be erected within a 2m high timber, close boarded fenced compound of dimensions of approximately 8.5m by 8.5m. The proposed mast is a triangular lattice structure. The base would be approximately 3m wide and this would taper to approximately 1.7m at the top. At the top, antenna and dishes are proposed. The antenna would add to the bulk of the top section of the mast and have a width of approximately 3.4m. The telecommunications mast requires an electricity supply. The applicants have worked with Western Power and it is intended to bring a supply from a connection in the valley to the south. This would be brought underground with the route passing through gate openings, under a track, and then into the corner of the car park area. It will be possible to 6/30/15/101 03 November 2015 1 7.1 EXMOOR NATIONAL PARK AUTHORITY avoid the root systems of the trees around the proposed compound. To the south of the compound is a young beech tree that will grow and mature in the years to come. To the west are the pine trees that have been retained to help screen the car park from the wider area. Details of the electricity supply have been included with the submission but this element of the proposal is permitted development and is not formally part of the application for consideration. The application is part of the Government’s Mobile Infrastructure Project. This is an initiative to provide mobile coverage to areas where there is no coverage from any of the four networks. The Project has focused on seeking to provide masts and the related coverage in those areas which address the most not spots and cover the highest number of premises. The masts all provide coverage from all four mobile phone networks. The Government has confirmed that the Project will cease at the end of March 2016 and that only proposals that have all consents in place by the end of October 2015 will be able to be part of the programme (dispensation has been given by DCMS for this proposal to be considered at the November Meeting). In the case of the present proposal the applicants have explained that they have looked at 13 alternative sites that may have had the potential to provide coverage to the wider area. Some of these were on lower land that would have required a taller mast than that required at Haddon; had difficulties with providing an electricity supply, and/or were considered to have an adverse landscape impact. Planning Officers requested that the applicants investigate whether Britannia’s Shield was an option. This is an area of elevated woodland to the east of Haddon and falls outside of the National Park. The applicants have explained that this has been investigated and discounted because it is within a plantation and the proposals would affect on-going workings of the plantation by sterilising a large part of it, this mast would require a more expensive and longer power route, and it would require a taller mast than that proposed at Haddon in order to clear the existing trees and to compensate for the growth of the trees in the future. With the Haddon Hill mast proposal, officers have asked why the mast cannot be lowered and still provide a satisfactory level of coverage. The applicants have investigated this option and responded with both an explanation and photographs from a hoist which was raised on the application site and was able to take photographs from various heights. Officers will show these photographs as part of the Committee presentation. The applicants have commented as follows: “The height of the mast is required due to a combination of two technical factors: first, the need to provide radio coverage to the not spots and, second, unobstructed line of sight links back to the Mobile Network Operator’s (MNOs) shared installation outside of Shillingford. Of these two factors, the radio coverage requirement is the most important constraint here as the trees nearby will affect signals, reducing the coverage footprint, and an allowance has to be made for tree growth over the planned 20 years the MNOs have committed to provide coverage from this site. To demonstrate this point I’ve included in the attached documents extracts from the panoramic photographic surveys taken at the time of our design visit. The first photograph shows the view at 29m a.g.l., i.e. the position of the antennas on the proposed mast. As you can see, this is a clear and unobstructed view thereby enabling the antennas to be positioned so that they can ‘see’ down the valley to the north and provide coverage as far as Brompton Regis and Withiel Florey. The 6/30/15/101 03 November 2015 2 7.1 EXMOOR NATIONAL PARK AUTHORITY second photograph shows the view at 24m a.g.l. (for a 25m high mast) where the upper sections of the trees are now visible and are likely to be an impediment to coverage, and the third photograph is taken at 19m a.g.l (for a 20m high mast) where the trees are now in full view and will impact significantly on coverage over the life of the base station. This important technical constraint is not best demonstrated by coverage simulation plots, as these would still show some coverage at reduced mast heights, which is why panoramic photographs are always taken to supplement them and provide the radio planner with an understanding of the presence of trees and buildings nearby in order to inform the required height of the antennas. For the avoidance of doubt, the trees are not a factor for the transmission dishes as these will be orientated in the opposite direction towards the south. While the focus of the Mobile Infrastructure Project (MIP) is on coverage to premises within the not spots, this is to provide the MNOs with a degree of economic surety, which is necessary if they are to hold onto the operational costs for a long period. In that sense, the number of premises cross subsidises the delivery of coverage, and the many associated benefits it provides, over a much wider area: for example, by providing coverage to local roads, to farmland or to public rights of way. The key benefits of mobile coverage for the wider local area includes the ability to contact the emergency or breakdown services, for the ambulance service to send and receive life-saving data ahead of their journey to the hospital, and the socio–economic benefits to tourists, farmers, local tradesmen, doctors, vets and others often on the move in rural areas. A secondary benefit of the MIP is that it may also extend coverage to partial not spots, i.e. to locations where some, but not all, MNOs currently provide a service.” The applicants have supplied a revised and larger scale plan showing the coverage that would be provided were the mast to be permitted and constructed.
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